10 Overlooked Ways ALL Video Game Studios Could Improve
5. Encourage Game Jams To Spike Creativity
If you’ve never been a part of a game jam before, they can be some of the most intense, fun and creative environments a game developer can be a part of other than dancing swordfights to the death (which occur more frequently in independent studios, these days).
Occurring over the space of a day, a weekend, or even a few weeks, game jams ask an individual or a team to rapidly work on a prototype based on a common theme and then compare results afterwards. There’s really nothing like getting a prompt like “circle”, and then finding out your team has made a 3D puzzler and your neighbour has made a sphere-based racing game.
Game jams, when they occur voluntarily and regularly in a game studio, boost morale and creativity - particularly if you’re a huge AAA studio that’s been working on the same game for years.
And, in rarer occasions, a studio can see potential in a game jam prototype and take it into full production, which happened with one of my own ideas.
Come on - slam, and welcome... to the jam.